The Raleigh Tamland iE is a drop-bar, conquer-any-surface e-bike designed to take you exploring. It’s capable in a host of situations and can be used as a weekday commuter, loaded up for an adventure ride, or ridden to explore local dirt roads.

It’s capable of doing even more thanks to its wide 650bx47mm tires that roll fast on the road and provide a good amount of traction on gravel and dirt. A drop-bar handlebar—still something of a rarity on e-bikes—allows for a sporty riding position and gives increased control when riding off-road. To make it sturdy and safe enough to ride off-road, this Tamland comes with thru-axles and hydraulic disc brakes. The SRAM Apex drivetrain has an 11-36 cassette that, with the assist from the motor, allows you to conquer most hills while giving you a big enough gear to keep the speed up on the flats.

A class 3 e-bike, the iE features a 250-watt, mid-drive Brose motor that tops out at 28 mph with a 500Wh battery integrated into the down tube. Fully juiced, the battery will last a claimed 80 miles with minimal assistance and up to 35 miles with the motor running at full power.

While the drop bar and sloping tube make the Tamland appear to be a road-oriented commuter, the bike is capable of much more. It can be ridden on the road, on gravel, and on dirt with no major changes to its setup. The Tamland will get over steep road climbs with little effort and feels stable when racing through corners at high speed on descents. Once on gravel and dirt, the wide tires keep the ride smooth and provide enough traction to keep you upright in many conditions.

The Tamland iE is ideal for anyone who likes to ride a little bit of everything and wants a bike that can be used as a commuter during the week and on gravel rides on the weekend.

5 Things We Love About the Tamland iE

Thru-Axles

Thru-axles are used to ensure the Tamland is strong enough to handle bumpy terrain.

Powerful Brose Motor

A 250W motor with 90Nm of torque will have you up to cruising speed quickly.

Drop Bar

The inclusion of a drop bar means you can find a comfortable riding position on all rides.

Wide 47c Tires

The wide and burly tires smooth out rough roads and have traction to keep you upright on gravel.

Brose LCD Display

The display is easy to read and simple to use. Three settings will assist up to 28 mph.

Super Torque-y Brose Motor

The Brose pedal-assist system gives up to 90 Newton meters of torque and does so quietly. That amount is higher than some gravel-capable e-bikes like the Trek Domane, which has a top rating of 63 Newton meters, but is in line with the Specialized Turbo Vado, which also kicks out 90 Nm of torque. The higher amount means more power so you get quicker acceleration and and more available boost when pedaling.

On the road, the motor is hardly audible in most settings—you hear little more than a hum even at full power. It’s a Class 3 mid-drive motor that will having you zipping around town at up to 28 mph before it cuts out. Dependent on whether you choose to ride in the lowest Cruise setting, middle Tour, or max-assistance Sport mode, the battery will last up to an estimated 80 miles. Switching between modes is easy via two buttons on a handlebar-mounted toggle. A third button scrolls between trip distance, average speed, and time of day so you always have the important information available. The display itself is large and clear with speed and battery life displayed prominently. If you opt to leave the bike in a public rack, then the LCD unit can be removed to keep it safe.

The gearing on this Tamland is not as wide as on the regular Tamland, which has an 11-42 cassette with a 38-tooth chainring. The lowest gear on the Tamland iE is a 36t cog with the 38t chainring. But this one also has a motor to help you get up those hills. On a particularly steep climb, with grades pushing double digits, I put the motor into Sport mode and shifted into the smallest gear. I had to put some effort into pedaling, but made it over this hill without too much duress.

The 11-36 cassette isn’t as wide as most gravel bikes, but the added assistance will get up climbs with little effort

Trevor Raab

Long Reach, Long Wheelbase, Long Front Center

The non-motorized Tamland has the same go-anywhere, do-anything mantra as this one, but the bikes are actually quite different. The Tamland iE was built with a new frame that more closely resembles Raleigh’s Redux commuter bikes—Raleigh needed something that had more room for the motor and battery than the standard Tamland. That gives this Tamland a very long top tube, increasing its front center and wheelbase to numbers we were surprised to find on our size-small test bike. At 418mm, the reach is about 50mm longer than on a small standard Tamland.

That stretched-out riding position might take some time to get used to. Taller riders can downsize, but with only three sizes offered shorter riders might be out of luck. Even the small felt too long for me, and I’m 5-foot-10. While some other e-bikes, like Specialized’s Turbo Vado, do have longer reaches to accommodate a motor and battery, not all do. If you are a shorter rider and don’t love long reaches, there might be a better option for you.

Ride Impressions

The Tamland is a solid daily commuter, but on those rides I often thought about where I could take the bike on the weekend. The tires are begging to go beyond the road, giving this e-bike a double life as a gravel grinder.

When riding on the road, the Tamland gets up to cruising speed quickly, and once you reach the top speed of 28 mph, it’s easy to hold it there on flat ground. I found that on fast roads, I could sit back and ride at the top end of the assistance to keep up with traffic with very little effort. On steep descents, the bike felt steady even as my speeds pushed 40 mph. The wide tires and heavy frame keep the bike glued to the road. Here, the extra reach helps add stability.

On a long commute, you can get to your destination faster without getting sweaty, but the Tamland is so much more than an A-to-B commuting kind of e-bike. It also thrives on gravel and hard-packed dirt without requiring you to make major adjustments in your riding style. The tires are wide enough to hold traction on loose surfaces and lowering the tire pressure slightly helps smooth out the bumpy roads.

The bike’s battery and motor add weight, which takes some upper-body strength to control, especially on rough and bumpy roads. On long, unpaved rides, it can feel tiring. But the bike’s burly tires will roll over protruding rocks, across ruts, and over branches without flinching, which helps keep you relaxed over hard rides.

The flared, drop handlebar is wide enough to give some extra handling control and it has some flex to limit how much road vibration reaches your hands. It’s still rare to find an e-bike with a drop bar, and I appreciated it on this bike. I could slip into a faster, more aero position, and I felt more comfortable than with a flat bar when riding in traffic.

While the Tamland’s 80-mile range was more than enough for my commutes and adventure rides, some bikes have greater ranges. Trek’s Crossrip+ and Giant E+1 both get close to 100 miles per charge (though they have less power). But on my many rides, I never worried that I might possibly run out of juice—the display’s battery life reading made it easy to gauge my power consumption based on how far I intended to ride.

Plus, this bike is more capable than almost any other e-bike. It can be used as an everyday commuter with or without a rack, taken on long road rides, or used to explore your local backroads. Take it to work Monday tthrough Friday and know that when the weekend comes, you can use the same bike for whatever recreational riding you choose to do.

Matt JacobsTest Editor, BicyclingMatt grew up riding BMX in the UK and has ridden across Europe and the US, and now he’s putting those miles to use testing road, mountain, and city bikes for Bicycling.

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